Old School Robotics: DIY Rotating Wood Crank iPhone Dock

When we think of cranks we think of winding cranks made to power electronics or the ones made to power up the first cars. Cranks are useful and have been used for centuries. This is the first time that we've seen one used in an iPhone dock though.

This incredible Automata iPhone Dock was made by Murtaza Lakdawala. You just turn a crank and the dock slowly rotates. Sounds pretty cool and it puts your iPhone on a nifty pedestal. As an automaton, you'd expect this to crank itself, but it hearkens back to older technology. This type of woodcraft is known as Automata. Automata are self-operating machines. They combine art, mechanics and craftsmanship. We think that this is a neat little dock, halfway between a sculpture and a functional dock. Having looked at it, we think that it can also be duplicated by LEGO bricks. All of the parts are available and we've already featured a rotating LEGO iPhone dock.

The DIY project is quite complex if you're not used to working with wood. Although the assembly of the dock is pretty straightforward, in order to create the gears, you need to be able to machine them. Since we are talking wood and not metal, you'll have to use your hands and some power tools. A saw and drill were used to create most of the pieces. Cutting out the gears was left to the end. All of the gear templates are available on Lakdawala's site. There is also a nice little box that acts as a stand. Check out the full details over at Murtaza Lakdawala's website.